Clutching mechanism.



A. O HIGINBOTHAM.

CLUTCHING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION man FEB. 8. 1911.

1,281,368. Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

tor vehicles, in the act of chan UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR 0. HIGINBOTHAM, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGIN' OR TOv CHARLES 1B. FOSTER AND COMPANY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A COPAR'I'NERSHIP CONBISTING 0! CHARLES B. FOSTER, ARTHUR 0. HIGINBOTHAM. AN'D JEROME B.

i GEORGE.

' CLUTCHING MECHANISM.

. To all. whom it ma concern:

Be it known t at I, Airmen O. Hiera- BOTHAM, a citizen of the Unlted States resl ing at Worcester, in the count of Worcester and Commonwealth of assachusetts, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Clutching Mechan1sm,'of which the following, together with the accompanying the mlnlmumamount of shock imparted to the o eratin arts even when one part is rotati iig at lu g sped, and the other part, to e connected to the first part, 1s 1n a state of rest. Such a condition frequently arises in connection with the, change speed power transmission mechanisms employed onmofrom one 8 eed ratio to another by ren er ng o era-v the the'diiferent rs on a rotating s aft; for P p ses of ilustratlon, 1n the accom- P y g drawings I have shown my inven- 'tion as' applied to such a gear and shaft, as will bte hereinafter descfiibed wlth reference toesai drawin in w 'ic Figure 1 is a gide view, partly In sect on, illustrating the invention.

2 is an end view of the parts shown in Fig. 1, and I Figs. 3 and 4 are end views of separate parts of my'mech'anism.

Like reference chariacters refer to hke arts in the difierent gures p Referring to the drawn there 1s shown a shaft 1 and a ear 2 oosely ournaled thereon, the shaft 1n this mstance be1ng a rotating member whose rotation is to be transmitted, when desired, to the gear; obviously the relation of these parts may be reversed by making the gear the driving mein er and the shaft the driven member. For the rotative connectlon and dlsconnection of parts of this-character, it-is com- -Specifloatlon of Letters Patent. hpplleation' fled February a, 1917. Seth-1N0. 147,474.

shock to engagement between t teeth 3; said tance beyond Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

mon practice to rovide a series of clutch teeth 3 on the hug of the gear,- the same affording alternate projections and recesses for; interlocking engagement with corresp ingl recesses and projections 4, 5 on a sldi co ar 6, which is keyed at 7 to the shaft for rotation in unison therewith. The collar 6 is operable, by a shifting mechanism, not shown which e ages the usual annular groove 8 therein, to rotating shaft, thereby, when' desired, 'affectin the interen agement of its teeth 5 with t e teeth 3 of the gear and thus'causin the gear to rotate in unison with the shaft.- Such engagement, however, parts is at rest and the other rotating at high speed, or even when the arts are rotating in the same direction at iiferent speeds, is necessarily accompanied by considerable both the driving members, and usually it is diificult to avoid clashing and. grinding of the teeth 3' and 5 in the act of eifectin the positive locking he gear 2 and collar 6.

ond-' and the driven when one of the The present invention contemplates the elimination of the for inmechanism of this c ass, by a construction designed, byfrictional non-positive enga ement, tocause the driven. part to be rotat d at substantially the speed of the driving part, before the positive locking enagement between said parts is eflz'ected. To this end the, hub of gear .2 has loosel journaled thereon a ring 9, on the fame which are formed teeth 10 of substantially the same size and arrangement as the integral teeth 10project a suitable dis-v place as shown in Fig. 1 so as to be engaged by the teeth 5 of collar 6 before teeth 8 are so engaged. Encircling the ring 9, and disposed within a rim gear-'2 is a split expandin resilient rin 12. etween the ends 0 ring- 12 pro ects. 9. lug 13, attached to or formed 1n I 111 with the ring 9, andhaving a sufiiclent clearance to rotate freely within the rim or flange 11. The two rin tained in the position any suitable means, such taining plate 14 hearing own in Fig. lfby as. an-annular reagainst their outer oing disadvantages teeth 8 whenthe ring 9 is in 9 and 12am remenace faces and held in position by an expanding ring 15, which is seated in a groove in the inner periphery of flange or rim 11.

The operation of my implroved clutching mechanism is such that w en the slidable collar 6, rotatin with shaft 1, is moved to the right in ig. 1, its toothed surface will first engage the teeth 10 of rin 9, the latter being. a relatively light part, no appreciable inertia and presenting no resistance to rotation, since, unlike the gear 2, not connected in any way to an power transmission mechanism. The teen tant rotation of ring '9 carries the lug.13 against one of the free ends of the split ring 12 and thereby further tends to expand said rin 12 into even closer frictional contact wit the inner periphery of flange 11, thus exerting a frictional rotative force on gear 2 before any positive interlocking enga ement between said gear and the collar 6 is e ected. With the'inertia of gear 2 thus overcome, and with said gear rotatin in the same direction at approximately t e same speed as collar 6, it is a very easy matter to complete the right hand movement of said c'ollar to cause its positive engagement with the teeth 3 and therebyto transmit the full ro-' tative force of shaft 1. In combination, a shiftable driving member having clutching teeth adriven member .havmg opposing clutching teeth for' enga ment with the teeth of the drivmg mom r to eflect the positive rotation of the dr ven member, a rotatable ring held n the driven member having teeth pro- 1:01;! beyond said teeth of the driven memer or engagement with the teeth of the driving-member, prior to the engagement of the teeth of thedrivin' member with the 1 through gear 2.

teeth of the driven mem r, and means 0 eratively connected with said -rin to frictionally impart its rotation to t driven member.

aving 2. The combination with a driving member, of a driven member havin a toothed clutching surface, a toothed co ar splined on said driving member, and movable into engagement with the toothed clutching surface of said driven member, to cause rotation of said members in unison, and a toothed ri rotatable with respect to said driven mem er, and in position to be engafied by the initial axial movement of said co ar, and means for frictionally transmitting the rotation of said toothed ring to the driven member.

3. The combination with a driving mem} ber, of a driven member havin a toothed clutching surface, a toothed co ar s lined on said driving member, and movab e into engagement with the toothed clutching surface of said driven member, to cause rotation of said members in unions, and a toothed rin rotatable with respect to said driven inem er, and in position to be enga ed by the initial axial movement of said col ar, and a member expansible by the ro-' tation of said ring into frictional driving agement with said, driven' member.

ated this 29th day of January, 1917.

ARTHUR o. HIGINBOTHAM.

witnmi Nnnmn WHALEN,

If'nmmorn Comennsxon.

It is hereby certified thetin Letters Patent No. 1,281,368, granted October 15, 1918, upon the application of Arthur 0. Higinbotham, of Worcester, Massachusetts, for an improvement in Ciutching Mechanism, errors appear in the printed specificetion requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 56, for the word siding read sliding; page 2, line 78, claim 4, for the word unions read unison; and that the said Letters Patent should he read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Q fiice.

Signed and sealed this we; a y of November, A. 1)., 1918.

[1mm] R. F. WHITEHEAD,

Acting Commissioner of Pate'mja. 

